BRITAIN’S first elected Muslim mayor was thrown out of office yesterday for rigging his own election.

Disgraced Lutfur Rahman, 49, was banned from politics and could face prosecution after a judge found him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices.

Rahman was accused of playing the “race card” to seize power and turn east London’s Tower Hamlets into “a rotten borough”.

A special Election Court found he had manipulated and “cynically perverted” the religious feeling of his Muslim community.

Rahman and his “cronies” were involved in systematic vote-rigging while he silenced critics “with accusations of racism and Islamophobia”.

Yesterday Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC ruled the result of the May 2014 mayoral election was void and ordered it to be run again.

Rahman, who became an independent councillor after being kicked out of the Labour Party, has been barred from politics for five years.

The Bangladeshi-born solicitor was ordered to pay £250,000 in costs in a trial that is estimated to have run up a legal bill of £1million.

Rahman was brought to justice through the determination of four local residents who brought the case against him after the Metropolitan Police failed to take action last year.

It was handed three files of material after an intervention by communities secretary Eric Pickles but found “no credible evidence of criminality”.

After a 10-week hearing at London’s High Court, Mr Mawrey said the case “starkly demonstrated what happens when those in authority are afraid to confront wrongdoing for fear of allegations of racism and Islamophobia”.

He said: “Mr Rahman has made a successful career by ignoring or flouting the law and has relied on silencing his critics by accusations of racism and Islamophobia.”

Mr Rahman has made a successful career by ignoring or flouting the law and has relied on silencing his critics by accusations of racism and Islamophobia.

Election Commissioner, Richard Mawrey QC

He praised the petitioners – Andrew Erlam, Debbie Simone, Azmal Hussein and Angela Moffat – who risked bankruptcy if they had lost the case.

He said: “If the bringing of an election requires courage in ordinary circumstances, bringing a petition to try to unseat Mr Rahman required courage of a very much higher order.”

The Tower Hamlets First party leader did not attend the court ruling to see his career end in shame.

He and his agents were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of corrupt and illegal electoral malpractice.

This included false statements about John Biggs, the Labour candidate, who was dubbed a racist in a “ruthless and dishonest campaign”.

One handwriting expert told the court up to a quarter of ballots he examined appeared to be suspicious.

Mr Mawrey said there had also been instances of “personation” or ghost voters, postal vote fraud and “undue spiritual influence” on Muslims to re-elect the mayor as a religious duty.

Other allegations against Rahman and his supporters included intimidation at polling stations and the distribution of gifts to voters.

The commissioner said supporters had been “rounded up” to deliver statements of “polished and peerless English prose” who were found to have only a rudimentary grasp of the language in the witness box.

Mr Mawrey also said Rahman had lied while giving evidence and “proved himself almost pathologically incapable of giving a straight answer”.